Incompetent & Geriatric Birth Terms
Maybe it’s because I’m a doula and it is my job to encourage and uplift. But have you ever noticed obstetric terms and how negative and judgmental they are? The words used to describe and address the pregnant and birthing person make one feel as though they must prove that their body can birth. One might wonder if there is even a decent shot at a straightforward birth experience without a complication. What kind of backwards approach is this?
Here's what I mean. The following terms are the first to come to mind:
Trial of labor
Geriatric pregnancy
Unproven pelvis
Incompetent cervix
Failure to progress
Arrest of labor
Arrest of descent
Failed glucose tolerance test
Unfavorable cervix
Lazy uterus
Irritable uterus
Failed induction
Rupture (of membranes)
But there are many more.
During such a vulnerable time, how then can we expect a person to feel encouraged or optimistic about their pregnancy or birth journey if they are faced with such negativity and judgement? These terms are outdated and rooted in a patriarchal medical model. Surely in 2023 we can come up with better ways to describe the pregnant and birthing body!
One can argue that the labor and delivery unit is the one area of the hospital in which there often is no true need for medical intervention. It’s more of a just in case location in which to give birth. Things might (and often) proceed safely without medical assistance. But even if complications do arise, it should not connote failure or incompetence on the part of the woman or her body.
There are so many variables at play in every single birth, even in the same birthing person. Birth by its very nature is inherently unpredictable. The failure to control, plan, or contain it is part of the miracle of the process. It is a humble reminder that the power of the human force of birth will always retain an element of mystery. And the person birthing should be encouraged and uplifted in the way they are addressed, and in the words used to describe their body and the details of their birth.
The failure lies in the incompetent verbiage used to describe the life-giving force of pregnancy and birth. Shame on the medical patriarchal model for the negative and judgmental terms that leave a sense of performance anxiety in their wake. It’s an embarrassment. These terms need to change.
